Rigid hinged-lid cigarette packets are currently the most widely marketed, by being easy to make, easy and practical to use, and by providing good mechanical protection of the cigarettes inside.
A rigid hinged-lid cigarette packet normally comprises a cup-shaped container having an open end; and a cup-shaped lid hinged to the container along a hinge to rotate, with respect to the container, between an open position and a closed position respectively opening and closing the open end. When the lid is in the closed position, the packet is parallelepiped-shaped, defined by a lateral surface and two end walls.
The outer surface of the packet is normally printed with the brand, a description of the cigarettes inside the packet, a government health warning, and possibly advertising messages. At times, cigarette manufacturers need to provide customers with a considerable amount of information, which cannot be printed sufficiently clearly on the outer surface of the packet, in view of the relatively small size of the outer surface, and the fact that most of it is occupied by the government health warning. For this reason, it is common practice to provide each cigarette packet with a coupon, which is normally folded accordion-fashion and inserted inside the packet, or is fixed to the outside of the packet by one or more spots of glue.
Rigid cigarette packets with coupons of the type described above are expensive to produce, in that the packing machine must be provided with an additional station for supplying the coupon material. Moreover, a coupon detached from the packet is more awkward to consult, and, above all, is an annoyance to the user if not discarded when unsealing the packet.
WO0128870A1 describes a rigid hinged-lid packet, in which a folding leaflet is glued to a lateral wall of the packet, and is folded accordion-fashion to lie flat on a rear wall of the packet. In use, the user unfolds the leaflet to read the information printed on both sides, and the leaflet normally remains attached to the packet, even though the leaflet may have tear lines by which to tear part or substantially the whole of the leaflet off the packet. The leaflet may contain information of any kind, advertisements, promotion of new products, prize stamps, etc., and is folded out of the packet in such a way that its outer faces show the same contents as the outer faces of the packet, so that it is unnoticeable at a glance.
A rigid cigarette packet with a coupon of the type described in WO0128870A1 solves some of the drawbacks of a rigid cigarette packet with a separate coupon. However, once unfolded when unsealing the packet, the coupon is difficult to fix back onto the packet neatly to avoid annoying the user.
DE19814255A1 discloses a cigarette carton having a main body and a folding lid; the rear face of the main body has additional outward-folding flaps covering the main rear face of the carton.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,084A1 discloses a box-like cigarette pack comprising a lid with a tab extending below the bottom of the lid; all or part of the tab may be removed easily by providing a tear line between the removable tab and the rest of the lid. The tab may be printed or embossed with any desired information, and may form a coupon or coupon-like article when removed; until removed, the tab may be somewhat of an impediment to easy removal of the cigarettes or closure of the pack, thereby prompting the consumer to remove the tab as intended.
DE3835385A1 discloses a medication packaging box comprising a closed container having a withdrawal opening on the top side of the container and a closure cap at the withdrawal opening; and an information leaflet fixed at a particular point inside the packaging box; the packaging box is designed to open at the same place at all times, to prevent loss of the information leaflet.